Toward a Phonetic Description of Hand Placement on Bearings

Abstract:This article follows Johnson and Liddell (2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2012) and Liddell and Johnson (2019), which introduce the concepts of sequentiality and contrast, a segmental framework consisting of postures and trans-forms, and features describing the configuration of the fingers and of the thumb. This article further develops that theory of phonetics, focusing on the phonetic representations of the locations of the hand on the body and in space. We propose that, rather than describing the placement of the hands with respect to spatial loci, the hands locate at particular places on placement bearings. This approach allows us to describe nonindicating signs whose origins are on the head, trunk, arm, and the opposite hand, and demonstrate that indicating signs may also be described using the same approach.